US man sentenced for sexual abuse of Russian minor

A jury convicted him of traveling to Russia for engaging in sex with a minor. Schneider has also to pay 35 thousand dollars to the victim

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NEW YORK, December 2 (Itar-Tass) —— U.S. citizen Kenneth Schneider, 46, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse of a Russian minor.

A court in Philadelphia found him guilty of the abuse of a 12-year old Russian ballet dancer which began in 1998 and lasted for several years.

Lawyer Schneider, who founded an arts group to support young talents in choreography, arrived in Russia in the summer of 1998 and offered to finance the boy’s ballet school and moved him to his Moscow apartment.

He was also charged with bringing the boy to Philadelphia for a 2001 summer program and continuing the sexual relationship.

Schneider denied the charges, which arose after the victim filed a lawsuit against him in 2008.

A jury convicted him of traveling to Russia for engaging in sex with a minor. Schneider has also to pay 35 thousand dollars to the victim.